This section of our website is dedicated to foods that are traditionally served during the holiday season; unlike our list of "National Food Holidays" which are actually daily, weekly & monthly observances held in honor of a certain food.

Many cultures have a recognizable cuisine, a specific set of cooking traditions using various spices or a combination of flavors unique to that culture, which evolves over time.

During the Holiday Season of course! But when is the holiday season you ask? Well the holiday season, or simply the holidays "is an annual 4 month festive period that surrounds the Christmas holiday as well as other varying holidays. It is sometimes synonymous with the winter season, and is usually said to occur between October and January. The exact definition, name, and celebratory method of the period varies from culture to culture." (See Winter Holidays) Now having said that, we also list many other traditional foods that's part of celebrations all throughout the the year!

An annual celebration held primarily in Great Britain. Originally known as Gunpowder Treason Day. Guy Fawkes Night is usually celebrated with large organised events, centred around a bonfire and extravagant firework displays. The traditional food is always a Parkin Cake.

Haggis is traditionally served with the Burns supper on the week of January 25, when Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, is commemorated. (poem Address to a Haggis in 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. • Mashed Potatoes

A Lane Cake is a baked cake traditional in the American South. It is difficult to make and reserved for special occasions like birthdays and weddings. It consists of four layers of white sponge cake separated by a filling of egg yolks, butter, raisins with a generous amount of bourbon or brandy. Modern versions may contain pecans, coconut & other ingredients in the filling. It is frosted with a white icing made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

Saffron Bun • Traditionally eaten during Advent, and especially on Saint Lucy's Day

A saffron bun, in Swedish lussebulle or lussekatt (a lussekatt has four rolls), is a rich yeast dough bun that is flavoured with saffron and cinnamon or nutmeg and contains currants. In Sweden, no cinnamon or nutmeg is used in the bun, and raisins are used instead of currants. The buns are baked into many traditional shapes, of which the simplest is a reversed S-shape. They are traditionally eaten during Advent, and especially on Saint Lucy's Day, December 13.

This day is for making, sharing and enjoying pancakes. Shrove Tuesday, (also known as Pancake Day & International Pancake day), because it is customary to eat pancakes. Yes pancakes! On Pancake Day, customary pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom. -- The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself.

is a filled-pocket cookie or pastry in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine recognizable for its three-cornered shape. The shape is achieved by folding in the sides of a circular piece of dough, with a filling placed in the center. It is traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Hamantashen are made with many different fillings, including poppy seed (the oldest and most traditional variety), prunes, nut, date, apricot, apple, fruit preserves, cherry, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, or even caramel or cheese. Their formation varies from hard pastry to soft doughy casings.

A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, or three kings cake)

is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras / Carnival. It is a popular food item during the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in Lebanon, France, Belgium, Quebec and Switzerland (galette or gâteau des Rois), Portugal (bolo rei), Spain, and Spanish America (roscón or rosca de reyes and tortell in Catalonia), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, Carnival is traditionally observed in the Southeastern region of the country, particularly in New Orleans, Mobile, AL, Pensacola, FL, other towns and cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on the southeast Texas island of Galveston, and Louisiana. In this region, the king cake is closely associated with Mardi Gras traditions and is served throughout the Carnival season, which lasts from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.

The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus) inside (or sometimes placed underneath), and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations.

are traditionally eaten by Jews during the Hanukkah festival. The oil for cooking the latkes is symbolic of the oil from the Hanukkah story that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long-lasting flame that is celebrated as a miracle. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foodways of the various places where Jews lived.

Atole is a traditional masa-based hot gruel of Mexican and Central American origin (where it is known as atol). Chocolate atole is known as champurrado or atole. It is typically accompanied with tamales, and very popular during the Christmas holiday season (Las Posadas).

The drink typically includes masa (corn hominy flour), water, piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), cinnamon, vanilla and optional chocolate or fruit. The mixture is blended and heated before serving. Atole is made by toasting masa on a comal (griddle), then adding water that was boiled with cinnamon sticks. The resulting blends vary in texture, ranging from a porridge to a very thin liquid consistency. Atole can also be prepared with rice, flour, or oatmeal in place of masa. In northern Mexico, there is also a variation using pinole (sweetened toasted corn meal). Although atole is one of the traditional drinks of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, it is very common during breakfast and dinnertime at any time of year. It is usually sold as street food.

Mulled Wine, variations of which are popular around the world, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. Nowadays, it is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween. • Hot Buttered Rum is a mixed drink containing rum, butter, hot water or cider, and various spices (usually nutmeg and cloves). It is traditionally associated with the holiday season and has a venerable history; in the United States, it dates back to colonial days.

White Christmas Candy White Christmas is an Australian sweet, made from a combination of Copha or white chocolate, icing sugar, sultanas, glacé cherries, desiccated coconut, milk powder and rice bubbles. It is cooked in a rectangular slice tin, and cut into slices for eating. It is very well known in Australia, being a sweet that children can easily be taught to make.

Pavlova Recipe (Australia & New Zealand) The dessert is a popular dish and an important part of the national cuisine of both countries, and is frequently served during celebratory or holiday meals such as Christmas lunch.

Pecan Pie Recipe -Pecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine.

Mincemeat Pie Recipe - A mince pie (sometimes also minced, minced meat, or mincemeat pie) is a British festive sweet pastry, traditionally consumed during the Christmas and New Year period and also for Thanksgiving in America. • Christmas Cake

The thirteen desserts are the traditional dessert foods used in celebrating Christmas in the French region of Provence. The "big supper" (le gros souper) ends with a ritual 13 desserts, representing Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles. The desserts always number thirteen but the exact items vary by local or familial tradition. The food traditionally is set out Christmas Eve and remains on the table three days until December 27."